The APRA and the International Relations in the 1920's: On the activities of V. R. Haya de la Torre

Non-State Actors in International Relations

Abstract

From the integration movement in Latin America we know that since the 19th century two currents, based on the regionalism such as Pan-Americanism led by U. S. which began with the Monroe Doctrine, and Bolivarism or Americanism emerged from within Latin America. But the questions of domestic politics and frontier disputes have impeded the realization of Latin-American integration.
On the other hand, the modernization of Latin-American countries began in the latter half of the 19th century and the universities in which colonial institutions still remained were greatly in need of internal reform.
The reform movement produced a transnational solidarity between students and intellectuals. This solidarity was founded on a continental scale nationalistic movement that sought to create a separate Latin-American culture which denied the European culture.
The expansionist movement, as a part of the university reform, gave birth to popular universities, and linked the student movement to the labour movement.
APRA (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana) was born in such a student movement in the 1920's when the invasion of North American Imperialism reached its peak in Latin America. It developed a unique movement as an alliance and political party based on Americanism and solidified with anti-Yankee imperialism with a concrete political base holding up a program of five planks:
1. Action against Yankee imperialism.
2. For the political unity of Latin America.
3. For the nationalization of land and industry.
4. For the internationalization of the Panama Canal.
5. For solidarity with all peoples and all oppressed classes.
in the 1920's when the Comintern had little interest in this area.
This article attempts to study the development of the Aprista movement since its foundation in 1924 to the creation of Peruvian Aprista Party (PAP) in 1931 when the Aprismo emphasized the national character, while it attributes the origin of its transnational character of the 1920's to the activities of the principal leader, V. R. Haya de la Torre, a leader of the student movement.
The Aprista Party that Haya planned was a continental organization and was to have branches in each country of Latin America. For Latin America would be able to compete with U. S. on condition that it was unified politically and economically.
In the 1920's the Apristas propagated the ideology of APRA and tried to create branches in each Latin-American country. It was between the students and Popular Universities that Haya found the potential support.
Haya had visited the southern countries as the president of Peruvian Students' Federation (FEP) and Panama and Cuba after going into exile, and this experience is the origin of his activities in the 1920's.
Though the Aprista movement could not create a continental scale it did succeed in establishings several branches in Latin America and Europe where it obtained many supporters.
It was in the 1920's that communist movement developed in Latin America. This movement, under the direction of Comintern, created the Antiimperialist League and eventually came to be opposed Apra. That is Apra's regionalism or indigenousism and multiclass character were denied by the internationalism and proletarian dictatorship respectively. But Peruvian communist Mariategui collaborated with apristas in the early times and after denying the Apra as a political party he maintained the indigenousism and moreover the socialist party (communist party) he planned should not reject the middle class.
After the foundation of PAP the Apra movement was reduced to a national movement and because of the change of U. S.'s Latin-American policy Apra became conservative. Nevertheless the insistence of the independent existence of Latin America and the proposal for Latin America integration in consideration of the nationalistic movement have an important significance when we consider questions in regard to